Let me get this straight about Frame Data

is the LAST START UP FRAME = FIRST ACTIVE FRAME?
take ryu’s srk for instance: 3 startup, 2 active frames (only first hit). does that mean
3 frames startup THEN 2 active frames, equaling in 5 frames in total or does it mean 3 frames startup where as the last frame is also the first active frames equaling in 4 frames total?

that’s getting me kinda confused.

Yes, startup 5 means the first active frame is the 5th frame. I really wish the frame data still explained this but they removed it at some point, possibly around the time they removed the hit stun/block stun/invul and other data.